Exam 1 Study Guide: Chapters 1-5, Appendix A, and Supplemental Reading
Chapter 1: Foundations of Human Communication
1. Be able to differentiate between communication and human communication.
2. Be able to explain why we should study communication.
3. Be able to define human communication.
4. Be able to recall and explain the three criteria that are used to assess
someone’s communication competence.
5. Be able to identify and define the components of the communication process
including source, encoding, decoding, receiver, message, channel, noise,
feedback, and context.
6. Be able to differentiate between the three models of communication:
communication as action, communication as interaction, and communication
as transaction.
7. Be able to identify and define the five characteristics of communication.
8. Be able to explain the five fundamental communication principles for a lifetime
outlined by Beebe, Beebe, and Ivy.
9. Be able to define and identify examples of interpersonal communication,
group communication, and presentational communication.
Chapter 2: Self-Awareness and Communication
1. Be able to differentiate between self-concept and self-esteem.
2. Be able to define perception.
3. Be able to identify and explain the three stages of the perception process.
4. Be able to identify three ways to improve our ability to form accurate
perceptions.
5. Be able to describe and identify examples of indirect and direct perception
checking.
Chapter 3: Understanding Verbal Messages
1. Be able to explain how words are symbols.
2. Be able to explain how the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis works.
3. Be able to identify examples of bypassing.
4. Be able to differentiate between connotative and denotative meanings and
identify examples of each.
5. Be able to differentiate between concrete and abstract language.
6. Be able to identify and explain words that are culture-bound and contextbound.
7. Be able to identify examples of the four ways words have power.
8. Be able to identify examples of biased language including race, ethnicity,
nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, class, and ability.
9. Be able to differentiate between descriptive and evaluative verbal messages.
10. Be able to differentiate between problem solving and controlling verbal
messages.
11. Be able to differentiate between genuine and manipulative verbal messages.
12. Be able to differentiate between empathic and detached verbal messages.
13. Be able to differentiate between flexible and rigid verbal messages.
14. Be able to differentiate between superior and equal verbal messages.
15. Be able to identify Gunnysacking as defensive communication.
Chapter 4: Understanding Nonverbal Messages
1. Be able to identify the four reasons to focus on nonverbal communication.
2. Be able to identify examples of the six functions of nonverbal communication:
substituting, complementing, contradicting, repeating, regulating, and
accenting.
3. Be able to explain the nature of nonverbal communication and how it is
culture-bound, rule-governed, ambiguous, continuous, non-linguistic, and
multichanneled.
4. Be able to identify examples of and differentiate between various nonverbal
codes including appearance/artifacts, body movements, gestures and postures,
eye-contact, facial expressions, haptics, vocalics, physical environment, space,
and territory.
5. Be able to define kinesics.
6. Be able to differentiate between emblems, illustrators, affect displays,
regulators, and adaptors.
7. Be able to identify examples of and differentiate between back-channel cues
and response latencies.
8. Be able to identify examples of and differentiate between intimate, personal,
social, and public space.
9. Be able to define and explain the three primary dimensions used for
interpreting nonverbal communication accurately.
Chapter 5: Listening and Responding
1. Be able to differentiate between hearing and listening.
2. Be able to explain and identify examples of the five activities of listening,
including: selecting, attending, understanding, remembering, and responding.
The listening process.
3. Be able to explain and identify the four listening styles.
4. Be able to define and identify examples of the three major listening barriers
including self-barriers, information-processing barriers, and context barriers.
5. Be able to list the three types of self-barriers and explain how an individual
can overcome each of them.
6. Be able to list the four habits associated with information-processing and
explain how an individual can overcome them.
7. Be able to list the two context barriers and explain how an individual can
overcome both of them.
8. Be able to list and explain the three-step process (stop-look-listen) to improve
your listening skills.
9. Be able to describe the four strategies of effective responding including: being
descriptive, timely, brief, and useful.
10. Be able to list and explain the four strategies of how to respond with empathy.
11. Be able to differentiate between paraphrasing content and paraphrasing
emotions.
Appendix A: Interviewing and Resumes
1. Be able to describe what an interview is.
2. Be able to identify and explain five different kinds of interviews.
3. Be able to differentiate between and describe the three phases of a wellstructured interview.
4. Be able to identify and discuss the important elements of being interviewed for
a job.
5. Be able to describe and explain a clear, well-worded resume.
6. Be able to differentiate and explain the differences between a functional,
chronological, and combined resume format.
7. Be able to identify and discuss the important elements of participating in an
information-gathering interview.
8. Be able to explain how to conduct an interview.
Supplemental Reading: Communication Apprehension and Employment
Interviews (Ayers, J., Keereetaweep, T., Chen, P-E., & Edwards, P.A., 1998) and
Communication Counts in Landing a Job (Civiello, M., 2009)
1. Be able to list and identify a variety of problems people encounter in their lives
due to communication apprehension (CA) in the Ayers, et al article.
2. Be able to list and identify the number one and number two
characteristics/criteria and other highly rated characteristics that interviews
use to judge applicants in the Ayers et al article.
3. Be able to discuss and differentiate how low CAs and high CAs approach
employment interviews according to the Ayers et al article.
4. Be able to discuss and differentiate how low CAs and high CAs prepare for
employment interviews according to the Ayers et al article.
5. Be able to discuss and differentiate how low CAs and high CAs differ in their
behavior displays in employment interviews according to the Ayers et al article.
6. Be able to differentiate and discuss, according to the Civiello article, the
importance of what you say and how you say it. Be able to provide examples
and provide suggestions based on the author’s ideas.
Sample Test Questions: You may, or may not, see some of these questions
again.
Chapter 1:
1. Acting on information is defined as _____. Making sense out of the world and
sharing that sense with others through verbal and nonverbal messages is
defined as _____.
A. human communication; communication
B. communication; human communication
C. responding; human communication
D. communication; responding
2. The pathway through which messages pass between source and receiver is
called:
A. channel
B. context
C. noise
D. feedback
3. Henry was involved in a heated argument with his girlfriend Samantha and
made some very hurtful comments to her. The next day he called Samantha to
tell her that he didn’t really mean what he’d said. Samantha; however, couldn’t
forgive Henry because she kept recalling his hurtful words. According to the
“Characteristics of Communication,” Samantha is demonstrating that
communication is:
A. inescapable
B. complicated
C. irreversible
D. rule-governed
4. Tom and Steve are discussing the quiz they just took in class. As Tom shares
his ideas, Steve holds his response until Tom has finished speaking. Steven
then answers Tom’s questions and adds his own information. This situation
best describes which model of human communication?
A. Communication as action
B. Communication as interaction
C. Communication as reaction
D. Communication as transaction
5. Jason meets with three of his friends everyday to discuss reading assignments
from a class. He is engaging in what type of communication with his friends?
A. interpersonal
B. public
C. impersonal
D. small group
Chapter 2:
1. Judy is a pool player. She has been involved in the sport for six years and has
never won any tournaments. Her parents tell her she is one of the best pool
players they have ever seen and Judy feels very confident about her talent.
Judy’s self-concept has developed through:
A. self-image
B. communication with others
C. self-labels
D. assumed roles
2. Luke is driving his car to the grocery store. The music is playing, his wife is
talking to him on his cell phone, and the a/c is buzzing. Luke begins to sing the
words to the song on the radio. Which stage of perception has Luke engaged in?
A. attention
B. interpretation
C. selection
D. organization
3. To
A.
B.
C.
D.
improve your ability to form accurate perceptions of others, you should:
make generalizations about others
check your perceptions of others
allow stereotypes to influence your actions
trust your first impressions of others
4. Kim tells her roommate, “Our apartment is really messy with your clothes on
the floor and dirty dishes stacked up in the sink. I don’t know if you are so busy
with school that you haven’t had time to clean up or if you are hoping that I will
clean up after you. What is the reason?” Kim’s statement is an example of:
A. indirect perception checking
B. intrapersonal communication
C. direct perception checking
D. stereotyping
Chapter 3:
1. Sarah and John agreed to meet early before class to review their notes. Sarah
arrived 30-minutes before class. When John arrived five minutes before class,
Sarah said, “I thought you were going to come to class early?” John replied, “I
am early.” The word “early” in this scenario is an example of what type of
language?
A. bypassing
B. restrictive
C. denotative
D. concrete
2. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is a theory that helps us better explain the
importance of which of the fundamental communication principles below?
A. be aware of your communication with yourself and others
B. effectively use and interpret verbal messages
C. listen and respond thoughtfully to others
D. appropriately adapt messages to others
3. A word’s literal meaning is _____ and a word’s subjective meaning is _____.
A. connotative; denotative
B. denotative; abstract
C. concrete; abstract
D. denotative; connotative
4. When Jack said to his girlfriend Nancy, “You know, I’m tired of you never
paying attention to me and ignoring what I want. You either care about me or
you don’t.” Jack’s comments to Nancy exhibit that words have the power to:
A. affect, thoughts, and actions
B. make or break relationships
C. create and label experience
D. shape and reflect culture
5. Juan and Courtney are in a healthy argument over which political candidate is
better. Juan tells Courtney, “I may be wrong, but here’s something you might
want to consider before you vote….” Juan is establishing a supportive
relationship by doing which of the following:
A. describing his own feelings rather than evaluating others
B. empathizing rather than remaining detached from others
C. presenting himself as equal rather than superior
D. being flexible rather rigid toward others
Chapter 4:
1. When her professor states, “We must begin class.” she also pounded her fist on
the desk at the same time. Her gesture serves which nonverbal function?
A. substituting
B. complementing
C. accenting
D. repeating
2. During Nancy’s first semester in college, she got a tattoo and had her
bellybutton pierced. Nancy’s changes to her appearance are called:
A. emblems
B. illustrators
C. artifacts
D. haptics
3. The study of human movements, posture, and gestures can be defined as:
A. nonverbal cues
B. illustrators
C. kinesics
D. haptics
4. There is a group of girls in elementary school sitting at a table during
lunchtime. The girls put their lunch boxes on their sides to make a barrier
between themselves and the boys who sit across from them. The girls’ lunch
boxes demonstrate the use of:
A. environmental markers
B. territorial markers
C. personal space
D. social space
Chapter 5:
1. Assigning meaning to messages occurs in which step of the listening process?
A. selecting
B. attending
C. understanding
D. remembering
2. Mary and Cassie talk over their lunch break about a problem Cassie is having
in her personal relationship. Mary expresses concern for Cassie’s problem;
however, she also realizes that they both are going to have to hurry if they’re
going to make it to class. She keeps her advice very brief as she looks around to
see others hurrying off to class. Mary’s listening style could best be described
as:
A. people-oriented
B. action-oriented
C. other-oriented
D. time-oriented
3. Brian is thinking about what he is going to say to his girlfriend while he is
looking at her and listening to her. Which of the following barriers to listening is
Brian experiencing?
A. self-focus
B. emotional noise
C. criticism
D. processing rate
4. Doug and Renee are talking in the student lounge. Renee is describing the
exam that she has just completed in her Marketing class while Doug listens. To
gain a complete understanding of what she is saying, Doug shifts the focus
away from his own thoughts and attempts to experience the thoughts of Renee.
Doug is engaged in:
A. empathizing
B. decentering
C. sympathizing
D. adapting
5. Restating in your own words what you think the other person is saying is
called:
A. understanding your partner’s feelings
B. paraphrasing the content
C. paraphrasing the emotions
D. asking appropriate questions
Answer Key to Sample Test Questions
Chapter 1:
1. B 2. A 3. C 4. B 5. D
Chapter 2:
1. B 2. C
3. B
4. C
Chapter 3:
1. A 2. B
3. D
4. B
Chapter 4:
1. B 2. C
3. C
4. B
Chapter 5:
1. C 2. D
3. A
4. B
5. D
5. B